search
My house is 35 minutes from the Arkell Museum of Canajoharie, New York, home to key works by Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, and William Merritt Chase. The Arkell also contains a favorite of mine: The Rainbow, by the New York State landscape artist George Inness. In that 1878 painting (footnote 1), one sees a few cows being driven along a hillside path, while a steepled village sleeps in the background. The quality of light that Inness captured or created in The Rainbow is enchanting: It brings more depth, complexity, and sheer autumnal longing to the scene…
When I powered the system back up after installing all of this, it seemed the Shunyatas were doing a number of things I like—to a greater degree than I associate with cables at all, let alone AC cables. "Winterlong" and "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," from Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Live at the Fillmore (LP, Reprise/Classic 44429-1), had a better, larger sense of scale. Instruments sounded more explosively dramatic, and voices were similarly punchier: There was more holler in the singing (I mean that in a good way). Cecille Ousset and Rudolf Barshai's fine recording of Prokofiev's…
Second, I tried something out of the ordinary (for me, at least): I powered my iMac with the Shunyata Hydra V-Ray, to see if it could make even a slight difference in the sound of music files streamed from therein. I admit, I so expected to hear no difference that I almost wrote the rest of this paragraph ahead of time. And I admit, not only was there an audible improvement with my computer plugged into the Hydra V-Ray, that difference was just as significant as the one wreaked on my Thorenses, and quite possibly more so. Singers had more body, instruments more substance and texture—oddly…
The January 2011 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands—a whole new year, a whole new volume of your favorite hi-fi magazine! And we’re starting the year off right. In my opinion, this is the best-looking cover we’ve put together in a while. The layout is clean and well-balanced, the image is dynamic, and the colors are vibrant and attractive. Those colors largely stem from the cute, little Chordette Gem DAC. Graphic designer, Natalie Baca, borrowed the fuchsia of the Chord’s chassis for the cover’s border, and took the gold of the Chord’s output jacks for our logo and cover…
Art Dudley wrote about the HRT Music Streamer II+ in December 2010 (Vol.33 No.12):
Consumer audio hasn't enjoyed many success stories in recent years, so this one stands out: According to distributor Elite Audio/Video, their USB-based Music Streamer D/A converters, designed and built in California by High Resolution Technologies, have been kicking ass, taking names, and generally scaring the hell out of everyone else who wants a share of the computer-music market.
But the Metamucil of technology doesn't settle in the bottom of the glass for very long, especially when audio…
Art Dudley wrote about the HRT Music Streamer II in December 2010 (Vol.33 No.12):
Consumer audio hasn't enjoyed many success stories in recent years, so this one stands out: According to distributor Elite Audio/Video, their USB-based Music Streamer D/A converters, designed and built in California by High Resolution Technologies, have been kicking ass, taking names, and generally scaring the hell out of everyone else who wants a share of the computer-music market.
But the Metamucil of technology doesn't settle in the bottom of the glass for very long, especially when audio…
The weekly Vote! Page is one of the most popular features of the Stereophile website, and the August 22 question, "Should Stereophile review more or fewer computer-audio products?", generated a record number of responses. No less than 88% of those responding asked for more coverage of products that allow a computer to be a legitimate source of music in a high-end context. Just 7% of readers wanted less coverage.
We have been trying to meet this demand for some time. I wrote a primer on the subject a few years ago (footnote 1), and more recently have been auditioning relatively…
I changed to the Esoteric D-07 processor that I have in for review, now using the RCA version of the Halide Bridge. (The Esoteric has RCA S/PDIF inputs, whereas the Benchmark has a BNC.) I had previously auditioned the Esoteric feeding its AES/EBU input from the Ayre C-5xeMP's digital output, and if there was a difference to be heard when I switched to the Mac mini driving the Halide Bridge, I was hard-pressed to hear it.
I swapped the Esoteric for the Logitech Transporter DAC and again compared disc sources played on the Ayre and fed to the Transporter's AES/EBU input to the BNC Halide…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Bus-powered USB-S/PDIF converter for use with PCs and Macs (no third-party driver software required). Input: USB 1.1–compliant. Operates in asynchronous isochronous mode. Output: S/PDIF electrical on 75 ohm BNC plug or Eichmann Silver Bullet RCA plug, as requested by customer. Sample rates supported: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96kHz. Input/output bit depth: 16 or 24. Includes 6' USB cable.
Dimensions: 0.5" (13mm) diameter by 3.5" (89mm) L, plus integral 6' cable. Weight: approximately 2oz (56gm).
Finish: Black-anodized aluminum.
Serial Numbers Of…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player; G4 Mac mini running OS10.5.8, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.6; Shuttle PC with dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; Esoteric D-07, Benchmark DAC1, Assemblage DAC-1, Logitech Transporter D/A converters; Stello U2 USB-S/PDIF converter.
Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon Evolution P-8.
Power Amplifiers: Classé CT-M600 monoblocks.
Integrated Amplifier: NAD M2 Direct Digital.
Loudspeakers: Harbeth P3ESR.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox XV2 electrical S/PDIF, DH Labs…